


Haunted

by Kelticmoon



Category: Dragon Age II
Genre: Canon Compliant, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-06
Updated: 2019-03-06
Packaged: 2019-11-12 17:18:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,302
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18015071
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kelticmoon/pseuds/Kelticmoon
Summary: Varric's Act 3 personal quest based on the knowledge that Varric left out certain details during Cassandra's interrogation.





	Haunted

**Author's Note:**

> With all the talk about Dragon Age: Dreadwolf Rises, I thought I'd move some of my Dragon Age fanfictions.

Ororo Hawke enters the Hanged Man late one evening after receiving a message from Varric that he needs her help with something. She finds the dwarf standing beside his bookcase in his suite at the top of the stairs. She knocks on the door frame before entering.

Varric turns at the knock.

“Got a minute, Hawke?”

Ororo nods.

She doesn’t ask how he knew it was her. She's the only one of their friends that knocks apparently. Everyone else just barges right in.

“I know this is ancient history, but remember that Hightown house Bartrand barricaded himself in? Bartrand doesn’t exactly need the place, now that he’s dead. I’ve been trying to sell it.”

Ororo leans against the wall.

“I assume there’s not much interest in it.”

Varric chuckles.

“No. There’s a really small number of people who want expensive, blood-covered houses in Hightown. I found a minor noble in Rivain who bought the place sight unseen. But now there’s a problem.”

"Of course there is…" Ororo deadpans.

“They say the place is… haunted.” 

Ororo stands up a little straighter at that.

“Bartrand’s atrocities must have weakened the barrier between this world and the Fade.”

“Maker I hope not! I don’t think I can fix the Veil through applied use of force,” Varric says. “They’ve noticed some minor problems; voices whispering in the walls, apparitions, things moving on their own. My hope is it’s a relic Bartrand brought back from the Deep Roads. We smash it, and the haunting stops.”

“What happens if we do nothing?” Ororo asks out of pure curiosity.

“Best case? They drag me before the seneschal and accuse me of fraud. The worst case involves Antivan Crows.”

That basically silences her next question, which is if Varric can do this himself. Ororo isn't about to let him do this alone.

Besides she has a bad feeling about this.

“I’m not an expert on hauntings, but what if smashing something doesn’t make the problem go away?”

“Ah… that’s where things get tricky,” Varric says. “You’re a mage! You must know something about… weird shit. I’m sure you’ll be able to figure something out that will help.”

Ororo tries to sound lighthearted when she answers.

“Very well. “We’ll investigate the mansion. _Again_.”

Varric smiles at her.

“Thanks, Hawke. I knew you wouldn’t let me down.”

~Later that night~

Ororo and Varric arrive at the house with Aveline, Fenris, and Blizzard in tow.

The first thing Ororo notices is the eerie stillness in the mansion. Also something about the place doesn’t feel right.

As they move toward the door leading into the kitchen, Ororo hears two jars rattling on the shelf.

“Hey… is that music?” Varric asks as they enter the kitchen. “Where is that coming from?”

“I don’t hear anything,” Ororo tells him honestly.

As they walk into a hall, the door across from them opens by itself.

“Something in this house is restless,” Fenris says, calmly.

After discovering every other door was locked but that one, they walk through it and enter what looks like the servant’s quarters.

As soon as they walk into the room, the vase on the table across from them starts to float on its own.

“I guess the buyer wasn’t kidding…” Varric mutters.

“Magic is at work here,” Fenris states.

They continue through the next doorway into the front hall.

“Where is that voice coming from?”

“What voice?” Ororo asks as she starts to get concerned.

Varric doesn't answer.

They continue across the front hall into a small antechamber with bookshelves and to the door on the other side of the room.

“I can barely hear it… I wish I could make out the words…”

Ororo looks at the others and sees they're getting worried too.

Ororo opens the door and they step into a corridor.

As they pass a small table in the corner, one of the chairs suddenly floats up and comes to rest upside down on the ceiling.

“In about 10 seconds, I’m just going to smash everything in sight!” Aveline states tensely.

“We’re getting closer! I can feel it, Hawke!" Varric exclaims.

Ororo and the others just kept quiet as they walk down the corridor. Every door is locked except the one at the very end of the corridor.

When they walk into the room, it's filled with all kinds of Dwarven furniture and décor.

“Look at this: my brother’s junk was left here"

Varric turns to Ororo.

“You wouldn’t know it, but Bartrand was a sentimentalist. This came from our estate in Orzammar.  When I was seven, I knocked over one of Mother’s plates and broke it. My brother yelled at me for an hour.”

Varric pitches his voice the way he usually does when mimicking Bartrand. 

“This was made by the artisans of House Saldras! The clay was from the Aedros Atuna River, which never sees the sun!”

Ororo raises an eyebrow.

“He was that upset over a dish?” 

“I don’t think it was a dish to Bartrand,” Varric says. “That stupid plate was the whole city of Orzammar to him.”

As they leave the room they see dark shadowy figures running down the hall screaming.

“Powerful magic, or many thousands of deaths, must have happened here,” Fenris remarks calmly.

“Blessed Andraste!” Aveline swears.

“This isn’t being cause by some random artifact,” Varric says suddenly. “The idol is still in the house, Hawke! It has to be.”

Now Ororo is glad she came along. If the artifact is still in the house; that might be what Varric has been hearing.

As they investigate the now open rooms in the corridor, Ororo starts keeping a sharp eye of Varric. His behavior is worrying her.

As they walk back through the antechamber with the bookshelves, all the books that had previously been on the floor suddenly put themselves back before their eyes.

Suddenly as they walk through the door into the front hall, the door on the opposite side of the room closes at the exact moment that a large ceramic vase hurls itself across the room directly at Ororo specifically. She doesn’t even have time to get a barrier up to protect herself.

The vase hits her directly with enough force that not only does the vase break but she also loses her balance and falls with a grunt.

She feels a sting on the side of her forehead.

“Whatever is here is angry,” Fenris states.

“Thank you Captain Obvious,” Aveline tells him as she helps Ororo up with a look.

Ororo just nods that she's fine as she heads to the now open door to the main hall.

The second they enter the hall, every pot, vase, and bucket begins to float in the air. As they make their way up the stairs, they hear a loud rumbling noise.

“Tell me you heard that Hawke,” Aveline says, uneasily when the noise stops.

“I did.”

“You know, that didn’t make me feel better.”

They continue up the stairs into the room Bartrand locked himself in three years before.

As soon as they enter, a fair skinned woman with black hair came runs out of hiding.

“Are you real?” she asks, shakily. “You’ve got to get out of here before it comes back.”

“Where’s the idol?” Varric asks sharply.

The woman looks genuinely confused.

“What idol?”

“Don’t waste my time with your lies! Tell me where it is!”

Ororo puts a hand on Varric's shoulder.

“Take it easy, Varric. She’s telling us what she can.” 

Varric uncharacteristically knocks her hand off his shoulder and glares at the woman in front of them.

“She’s hiding something, Hawke! Don’t lie to me! I know it’s here! You must have found it!”

The woman practically cowers under his glare.

“I swear, I don’t know anything about an idol! Please!”

As Varric makes a step toward the woman and Ororo moves to step in front of him, they hear the sound again and feel the whole room and floor shake enough to make them stumble.

The woman looks terrified.

“Maker, no! It’s starting again!”

She runs from the room.

Varric and Ororo look at each other right before they hear the woman scream.

They run out on the balcony at the top of the stairs and see what looks like a large, ethereal golem standing over the body of the woman.

“Uh oh…”

After defeating the golem and its army of shades and having several floating pots get thrown at them; a small piece of red lyrium falls onto the ground.

Varric walks over and picks it up.

“This… this is a piece of the idol… I should have known Bartrand would lie to me. Of course he’d keep a piece of the statue for himself.”

He looks up at Ororo.

“Think of what we could do with this.”

“Varric, you’ve been acting strangely since we arrived,” Ororo points out to him. “I don’t think you want to keep that shard.”

Varric’s expression softens a little, but he still has the crazy look in his eyes.

“I know you’re just trying to look out for me, Hawke, but I can handle this! It’s not the whole idol, it’s just a sliver! I need this thing! Six years of my life have gone into this!”

To Ororo, Varric sounds like Gwen when she really wants Ororo to buy her candy or a cookie when Ororo has already told her ‘no’.

“This shard is my only hope of finding out what happened to Bartrand. It’s my only chance to set any of this right.” 

As compelling an argument as it is, Ororo stands firm like she did when Merrill wanted the Arulin’Holm.

“Listen to yourself, Varric! It’s already controlling you! You have to let it go!”

Varric looks pleadingly up at her.

“You’re not listening, Hawke! I know I can handle this shard!”

Ororo lets her firm stance falter as she looks at him with concern. 

She knows of only one thing that will get him to listen, much as she loathes to use it.

“I’m worried, Varric. You’re beginning to sound exactly like Bartrand.”

Varric sighs.

“Fine. I don’t really want to argue anyway… Take it. It’s your problem now. Maybe “Enchantment!” boy can dispose of the thing for you.”

The second Ororo has the shard, Varric rubs his head like he has a headache.

“Let’s go. I… think I could use some air.”

They leave the estate and Varric quickly heads in the direction of Lowtown.

“Would you two mind picking up Gwen from the Keep while I take care of this?” Ororo asks Fenris and Aveline as they get to the Hightown Square leading up to the Keep.

“Of course not,” Aveline tells her genuinely.

Ororo hurries off to the mansion as Fenris tells her something about her head.

Ororo quickly heads inside and straight to Sandal.

“Think you can do something with this, Sandal?” Ororo asks the young dwarf kindly.

“Is that… lyrium?” Bodahn asks. “I’ve never seen anything like that.”

“It’s dangerous. Varric suggests Sandal might be able to dispose of it,” Ororo says.

“I think my boy can do better than that!” 

“Oooh… enchantment!”

Sandal turns the red lyrium shard into a rune.

After putting the rune in her trunk, Ororo quickly rushes back out the door and toward Lowtown straight to the Hanged Man.

Varric is staring into the fireplace in his suite when Ororo finds him. She quickly knocks before going in.

Varric turns and looks at her.

“Listen, Hawke. I don’t know what came over me back there in Bartrand’s house,” he says. “I’m glad you’re watching my back.”

“You had me worried there.”

“You never have to worry about me Hawke,” Varric says trying to be lighthearted.

Then his face falls when he looks closer at Ororo.

“Ororo. your head! You’re hurt!”

Ororo blinks before touching her the side of her head. Her hand touches something wet and when she pulls it away she sees blood.

She looks in a mirror Varric keeps on his table and sees that there are two cuts on her forehead that are bleeding.

“Those cuts must have been worse than I thought.”

A look of regret and worry spreads over Varric’s face as he remembers all the vases and such that hit Ororo while he was focused on that stupid lyrium idol.

“Maker’s breath! Here let me take care of that!”

He hurries her over to one of his chairs and has her sit down. He quickly runs and gets a wet wash cloth from his basin.

“Really Varric, I’m fine,” Ororo reassures. “It’s just a scratch.”

She still winced as Varric dabs her forehead with the cloth.

Now that it had been pointed out to her, it's starting to sting.

“It’s a cut,” Varric says, sounding upset. “A cut I should have noticed while we were at Bartrand’s, not now as blood is dripping down your head!”

“You weren’t yourself,” Ororo says, understandingly.

“That makes it worse!” Varric says emotionally as he picks up a bottle of a salve Anders had given him and touches it to Ororo’s cut. “If you hadn’t been there…”

Ororo feels the salve heal the cut quickly.

After Varric sets the jar down, Ororo takes his large hands into her own and looks at him.

“That’s why I went with you…” Ororo tells him with a smile. “To watch your back and make sure you got out safe. Even if it means protecting you from yourself.”

Varric squeezes her hands and smiles.

“And I appreciate it,” Varric tells her honestly.

Then he seems to regain himself. “

So what’re you having?” he asks as he sees Edwina pass by his door. “Edwina! Let’s get a couple of drinks here!”

Ororo smiles as she enjoys a quick drink with her best friend before returning to Hightown.

**Author's Note:**

> I love the relationship Varric has with My Hawke. I have many Wardens, even more Inquisitors, but there is only one Hawke I love enough to call them my Hawke and that's my Ororo, my diplomatic ice mage healer. She romances Fenris and has a daughter with him named Gwen that was born during the three year gap between acts 2 and 3.
> 
> Ororo and Varric love and care for each other fiercely.


End file.
